Trump and the media

Vote wisely

by Dave

If you’ve followed by last several posts, you will know that I am hoping that Kamala Harris wins this election.

Recent television ads by Republicans are filled with lies. And Trump never backs down. This is just an example:

The Republican campaign highlighted a report from The New York Times that said, “Harris is seeking to significantly raise taxes.” The original report in the newspaper actually said, “Harris is seeking to significantly raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.”

There is a big difference!

When confronted with his lies, there’s no apologies. For instance:

At a public event in mid-October, Trump repeated his lie that newly released federal figures show that there are 13,099 immigrants with homicide convictions who entered the country “during their administration.” CNN and others had been pointing out for two weeks that these figures are about people who entered the country over decades, including Trump’s own administration, not just under Biden and Harris.

Trump conceded he was aware of this: he said quickly that “they” tried to say the data covered a “longer” period than just the Biden presidency.

Again, it’s the big “They.” Of course he is right, and “They” are wrong.

RFK, Jr. is even worse. “They” goes back a long time, blaming just about every administration for decades, and nearly every department from the FBI, Department of Justice, CIA, EPA and more recently, USDA, HHS (Health and Human Service) and CDC. He is great working the paranoid and extremist right wing, who sees everything as one huge conspiracy.

TV ads suggest Kamala Harris would ban fracking, and that she admitted this cause gas prices would spike. Actually, this came from the Trump’s outgoing Secretary of Energy, Secretary Dan Brouillette, just before Trump left office, not from Kamala Harris or Joe Biden.

Links: Analysis: Donald Trump’s campaign of relentless lying

Link: Fact check: How Trump’s TV ads deceive viewers with misleadingly edited quotes

When Biden says something that is wrong or misinterpreted, he’s quick to correct himself. He called the comedian that referred to Puerto Rico as an island of garbage, as the real garbage. The comedian was obviously a Trump supporter, but Biden was not calling all Trumps’ supporters garbage. Just one.

But Harris, not Biden is running. I want a president who can correct themselves, and give us the truth. I have a much better chance with Kamala Harris.

So, vote wisely. Character matters, because there will be new issues in the coming years. I want a president who is deciding what is best for the American people, not the powerful conservative Republican lobbyists. Come to think about it, they constitute the real swamp, and Trump depends on their support.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s Hate and Falsehood Rally in New York

by Dave

It is political aggression. Anger motivates people into action. But anger as a result of a stream of lies, will motivate people to make the wrong choices.

Fact checking Madison Square Garden Rally

Preying on the emotions of hurricane victims.

Hurricane Milton took 32 lives and destroy homes, particularly in Florida. People in the affected areas are struggling to put their lives back together. And Trump is lying about FEMA, that they depleted all their money paying for housing for immigrants, and now they have no money to help the poor victims.

I really liked the way super Republican Governor DeSantis put it, that he hadn’t been in touch with Biden, because FEMA gave this state, Florida, everything they asked for. And he added, that if they don’t provide everything, then he’s calling. That’s exactly what FEMA does, partner with the states in helping to rebuild.

The anger is misdirected at FEMA when it should really be directed at Trump for playing politics with a national disaster.

Demonizing Immigrants

And what Trump said about immigrants did make me angry, not because my mother was an immigrant, and so was my wife, but because his claims were just a huge pack of lies. And people were cheering in Madison Garden, when they should have been pouring out of the stadium in disgust.

Trump said Harris “has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo.” Pure MAGA hate speech, and of course it’s a terrible lie. Many immigrants with criminal records have been denied entry in the US. Communities with high immigrant populations have less violent crime. Kamala Harris was not put in charge of border security.

Trump said Harris “vowed to abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of course, this is false. Harris wants to hire many more border agents. The bill that Trump had Congress kill, included hiring many more judges to hear (and usually dismiss) amnesty cases. Harris will get the 2024 Immigration bill passed. Donald Trump will not, and keep it a hot political issue.

This is a new one, which gets down right weird. Trump said Harris “called for free sex change operations on illegal aliens in detention at taxpayer expense.” First, it really isn’t an issue, because this has never happened with a detained immigrant. Criminals can not be denied medical treatment, so there has been just two inmates who have sex change operation. This is obviously another “hot button” hate issue, combining immigrants with all kinds of other problems.

Violent Crime is way up.

I’m certain that a lot of people went home after watching Trump, and thought how they could better protect their families. Trump said, “Your crime is through the roof” and that newly released statistics showed that “crime was up 45%” under the Biden-Harris administration.

The latest six months data for 2024, showed just the opposite, violent crime was substantially down.

New FBI statistics show continued drop in US crime in first six months of 2024

The new numbers show murders from January to June dropped 23% compared with the same period in 2023, while violent crime fell 10% and reported rapes decreased by 18%. Aggravated assaults during that period decreased 8% year over year, according to the data, while robberies fell 14% and reported property crime was down 13%. These are preliminary numbers as not every city has reported.

The 2023 report, which included figures from every major city in the nation, showed a dramatic 12% drop in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, as well as a 3% fall in violent crime.

I will not go into detail about the many lies regarding the so called “rigged” 2020 election, the Department of Justice investigation, tariffs or the economy. Nor Trump’s appeasement when it comes to Ukraine. His denial of climate change, means we lose our seat at the table, negotiating with the other world leaders on carbon emissions. We will lose four years in the needed transition from non-renewable fossil fuels. California forest fires and two devastating hurricanes are telling us extreme weather events are very real. Trump isn’t capable of addressing global problems, period. He will choose Russia over Europe and weaken NATO. No doubt about it.

Trump’s chosen path to the White House must be rejected

Fear and lies should not be the path to the White House. Trump is using fear to mobilize his supporters to the polls. Without the non-stop lies, Trump could not get elected.

He depends on his supporter not questioning what he says. A little fact checking shows an abundance of lies on just about every topic. (see links at the end)

If you agree with this posting, feel free to pass it on. An informed electorate is necessary part of holding our democracy together. Trump gives his supporters what they want to hear – disinformation and is a divider, not a uniter. On stage with Trump, there were no former Republican candidates, nor members of his former cabinet. Nor the Vice President, Mike Pence, who Trump regularly disparages.

He lost his more moderate supporters as he supported radical groups who assembled on January 6 to attack the Capitol, and he just watched the violence on television for two hours without making a single phone call. After all, they were wearing MAGA caps as they battled with Capitol police. Remember?

The presidential race is extremely close. In the US, we chose our president, so please vote.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Other fact checking sites:

Fact check: Trump repeats numerous false claims at Madison Square Garden rally

Trump’s False Claims of ‘No Help’ or Helicopters Sent for Helene Victims

Yes – Supporters should have walked out when Trump was lying about FEMA.

Factcheck.org on declining murder rate trend (2020 to 2023)

US allies try to ‘Trump-proof’ Nato – but is that even possible?
Both Republicans and Democrats supported NATO, until Trump.

Trump’s Lying Spree

by Dave

Pennsylvania is one of the most important swing states. In rallies in Reading and Scranton, PA, he lied 40 times. Many of them were “oldies” but he had a few new ones. He must be trolling social media, to keep his stock of lies up to date. The link below has 40 lies, which I numbered for reference. I’m not going in exact chronological order.

Link: Fact check: Trump, on a lying spree, made at least 40 separate false claims in two Pennsylvania speeches

Hurricane recovery and FEMA is covered in Lies 1,2 and 3, and I doubt anything Trump said about FEMA having run out of money or workers, was seriously believed, even at his rallies. The claim that FEMA funds were diverted to help illegal immigrants come in, has been debunked many times. As noted, the comment “Harris didn’t send anything or anybody” has been solidly debunked. Even Governor DeSantis said that FEMA has given Florida everything they requested.

Trump has often claimed that Harris is an illegitimate candidate and not entitled to donations made to Biden. I do not see the same claim made at these rallies, but lie #5 comes close, with “they are cheatin’ dogs.” He has said previously, that the only way he can lose, is if the Democrats cheat. So, it is likely, if Trump loses, he will restart a “Stop the Steal” effort once again. He has claimed with no evidence that non-citizens have been allowed to vote.

Energy policy lies were a major part of the rallies. See #10 (Wind power), #11 (electric vehicles) and #12 (Paris climate accords). Right now, there are incentives to provide electric vehicles, based on laws passed by Congress. Lie #12 is really outrageous, that the Paris climate accords cost us, a trillion dollars, while some other countries didn’t have to pay.

It is very evident that more extreme weather, including flooding, hurricanes and wildfires, are on the increase. The best hope to reduce climate change is through the mechanisms set up by the Paris climate accords, where developed countries contribute to a fund, to help with alternative energy projects worldwide. I have stated before, that if Trump pulls out of the Paris accords, we give up our seat at the table.

Immigration lies are abundant at rallies, and the Pennsylvania rallies were no exception. Lie #1 links the broke FEMA and broken immigration policy. “They have no money. You know where they gave the money? To illegal immigrants coming in.” Trump launched into a series of lies (#14 to 18) demonizing immigrants and blaming Venezuela and many other unspecified countries, as sending their unwanted citizens to the US.

Trump always lies about crowd size. In 2020, it was always my rallies are bigger than Biden’s or Obama’s, and it seemed childish. And he will never back down. His inauguration crowd was 1.5 million people, while the White House stated it was approximately 750,000 people. He even claimed that a photo of Harris and Walz arrival in Michigan had been altered using AI. Of course, this was baseless, but it is standard for Trump to steal the media’s attention, with a bogus statement.

He claimed his rally in Butler, PA, the crowd was over 100,000 people, while Secret Service estimate was 24,000 people. [lie #22] The assassination attempt was very tragic, but Trump couldn’t help from embellishing it. [lie #23] He said that before he got up, he asked the Secret Service how many were killed, and the response was three people. The microphone was still on, and none of this conversation happened.

Endorsements are is very important. He said “We got the firefighters endorse us, you probably heard.” [Lie #24] If they heard this, it was a lie. The International Association of Firefighters did not endorse either candidate. Of course, a week prior, Trump shared an posting that the CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon had endorse him. Dimon announced that he had not endorsed him. Trump shared another posting, that Taylor Swift had endorsed him.

A lot of the lies are ones we’ve heard before. Leaving Afghanistan in 2021, we lost a lot of military equipment. The Pentagon estimates 7.4 billion dollars was lost,and Trump claims 85 billion dollars. [#29] A total of 18.6 billion was spent on equipment during the war, so Trump’s number is baseless.

And, of course, he always is the victim of baseless criminal prosecution. The Classified Documents case is not over. We’ve all seen the photos of boxes of classified documents stacked in ballrooms and bathroom closets at Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

Link: In photos: Trump stored classified docs in Mar-a-Lago bathroom and ballroom, DOJ says

His lies on this one have varied over time. One was these were not classified documents. The second was he was not involved in the packing or storage of the documents. Now, of he can correctly state that all charges have been dismissed by the trial judge, but it’s not over. I predict that Appellate Court will overturn Judge Cannon’s ruling and put the case back on track. At the rallies, Trump claimed that “I had the Presidential Records Act; I was totally allowed to do it.” [lie #25] The Act says the National Archives has custody.

Under “Harris and Taxes” Trump used an edited video clip to claim Harris wanted to raise taxes, by 70 or 80%. [Lie #38, second to last]. Trump is pouring millions of money into television ads in swing states with the same edited videos. It sad that certain stations have permitted these adds.

Fact check: New Trump attack ad deceptively edits out key words from Harris

A lot of old lies, on the “corrupt Biden family” dating back to the Trump-Biden debate. Lie #31 was concerning money received by Hunter Biden. “Chris Wallace and a question about the Biden family” was about something that just didn’t happen at the debate, or at least not the way Trump recalled it.

The very last lie #40 looks a bit dated, but it is still a good fake gaffe. “But the worst was when he [Biden] was in New Hampshire and he said, ‘It’s great to be in Florida.’ It is a fake gaffe because it didn’t happen. Biden is known for gaffes, but Trump has told some beauties of his own.

“Trump mistook a wildlife refuge in Alaska for an Afghan airbase. His brains are turning to mush,” wrote one of the critics, author Stephen King, on social media.

That did happen!

At town hall, Trump mixes up Alaska and Afghanistan with confusing remarks on oil

And the worse lies were:

So, fact checkers caught 40 lies in two rallies. It was likely a lie every 2 minutes, like being sprayed with Trump’s lies.

Probably the worse ones, were on immigrants.

” Trump repeated his false claim that ‘the prison population all over the world is down, because they put them in our country.’ ”

A close second “Pants on Fire” lie, was #12, that the Paris accords on climate change would have cost us a trillion dollars. As correctly noted, we have paid one billion out of the three billion dollars commitment.

As I stated before, we don’t need to talk about climate models anymore. The unusually high temperatures of water in the Bahamas, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, can turn a tropical storm into a monster of a hurricane. The climate models predicted more extreme weather if we didn’t control carbon emissions. We got it, and it’s name is Milton.

These speeches laden with falsehoods were for his supporters only, who I guess still have blinders on.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Supreme Court Intervention in the Hush Money case

by Dave

The Supreme Court will not “intervene.” It isn’t the way the system works. Supreme Court only hears cases from the lower courts. The trial court will finish their job on July 11, 2024 with the sentencing of Donald Trump. I believe his sentence will be stayed, meaning it will be put on hold until after all appeals have been exhausted.

After sentencing, Donald Trump, will likely submit an appeal, which the appellate court must hear. He can ask that this appeal be expediated. I don’t think he will ask the case be expediated. Losing his appeal doesn’t really help his campaign.

I think Trump likes the attention. No gag order stops Trump from blaming the Biden administration for the trial and verdict. This is totally baseless. No gag order at present stops Trump from claiming that the Department of Justice and FBI are out-of-control. His latest claim is that FBI agents were “locked and loaded” to assassinate him when they entered Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. Note that the Director of the FBI is Christopher Wray, appointed by Donald Trump, but generally at hearings gets the most criticism from Republicans.

It is very rare that the Supreme Court expediates a decision. In December 2023, the Special Counsel Jack Smith sought to expediate the issue of presidential immunity, by having the Supreme Court hear the case before the appeals court had ruled. Donald Trump, fearing that he might lose in the Supreme Court argued that the Appellate Court should first complete its review.

The Supreme Court is powerful. It uses this power cautiously. It can overturn verdicts, if the trial has violated the rights of defendants. If for example, Donald Trump, were forced to testify, then a Constitutional issue would be evident. Judge Merchan let the jury know that Donald Trump had the right not to testify, and the jury could not use this fact in their deliberations.

Our legal system is not in tatters. Our FBI and Department of Justice are very actively enforcing the law, in partnership with the States and local authorities. I want them to continue to investigate all areas of criminal activities, including financial and election law crimes.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump calls on supreme court to annul his guilty verdict in hush-money case

Ukraine aid and tougher border security

by Dave

“We still need to secure America’s borders before sending another dime overseas,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah wrote in a post on X.

Linking a border security bill to Ukraine aid sounded like a good selling point.  Both were popular bills among both parties in Congress. The bill also contained billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Israel. The Republicans insisted on one bill with both Ukraine aid and border security provisions. 

A bipartisan committee set at work, to make this happen. It took four months of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats before the final bill was ready.

All agreed that this bill would make security at the southern border much stronger. The military aid to Ukraine is absolutely essential to defending Ukraine from its invasion from Russia. The Russians are ready for a long war, and we must be part of the support for a free and independent Ukraine. As long as they are willing to fight, and lose their own citizens to defend Ukraine, we must support them.

Senator Krysten Sinema, from Arizona, summed it so well:

Finally, it seemed we had the opportunity to solve the nightmare my state has lived for over 40 years,” she said, scolding Republicans for using the border for “campaign photo ops” but rejecting the chance to enact law. “Turns out they want all talk and no action,” she said. “It turns out border security is not a risk to our national security. It’s just a talking point for the election.”

In particular, it was Donald Trump. It was not going to look good if President Biden signed into law a bill that would toughen the border security, give aid to those suffering in Gaza and help Ukraine to defend its country.

So, to keep the issue of border security alive during the next 12 months to help Trump win, Republicans are willing to let the crisis continue. The majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, argued that Republicans tanked the bill to meet Trump’s demands for “chaos” at the border before the election.

Do not vote for Trump. Please. The Senators were elected to do what is best for the country. The Democrats voted for tougher border security, and it is the Republicans who are simply playing political games. I exclude from this group of Republicans, just 4 great Senators, James Lankford, OK, Susan Collins, MA, Lisa Markowski, AK, and Mitt Romney, UT. 

Stay tuned,

Dave

Donald Trump is a Hypocrite on First Amendment Rights

by Dave

Donald Trump is angry as he claims the government has taken away his right to speak. It didn’t. A jury in Manhattan court found Trump guilty of libel in a private civil lawsuit on January 26, 2024. Of course, he will appeal the case. The plaintiff, E. Jean Carroll, will not receive anything until all appeals are exhausted. 

Donald Trump has sued a long list of individuals and organizations for defamation, and has lost just about every case. He knows better than anyone else, how tough it is to win a defamation case. But, he seems to like suing, if for no other reason, as a means of revenge to people who criticize him. Honestly, it seems always to backfire on him!

“We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts,” Mr. Trump said during a public portion of a cabinet meeting in the White House. (New York Times, January 10, 2018)

“We want fairness,” the president said. “Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.” 

No legislation was ever proposed.  Any legislation would have been opposed by civil liberties groups. As a plaintiff in these lawsuits, Trump really could not care about civil liberties. It was all about revenge and it failed almost every time.

Trump sued the internet news site, Buzzfeed for publishing the Steele dossier. Trump sued Fusion GPS for paying for the investigation. Trump also sued Hillary Clinton and many others in 2022, alleging “a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hope of destroying his life, his political career, and rigging the 2016 Presidential Election in favor of Hillary Clinton.” All these lawsuits were dismissed. The 2022 lawsuit was dismissed and the Judge awarded nearly one million dollars to all the defendants who had to defend themselves against Trump’s political lawsuit.

Trump sued the New York Times and the reporters over a 2018 investigation into his finances and taxes that was based in part on confidential tax records. The Times easily won the case because the information of true. Then on January 12, 2024, the Judge ordered Trump to pay the Times and three of its reporters nearly $400,000 to cover their legal costs.

However, when Trump is sued for the dissemination of false and injurious statements, then he loves the First Amendment. This is why Donald Trump is a hypocrite. You just can’t have it both ways! He lost as a plaintiff attacking the New York Times on January 12, 2024 and then big time loss as Trump was a defendant with a 83.4 million dollar judgement on January 26, 2024.

If you have information that is true, you have a right to say it, and the forum doesn’t matter. That’s freedom of speech. His fraud case is expected to conclude soon, and it is all about Trump’s dishonesty.

In March 2024, Trump will be back in court, with the charge will be that he approved payment to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall to keep them silent during the 2016 election. He used campaign funds to keep them silent. As the evidence will show, it’s not dirty politics; it is criminal. And it absolutely runs counter to the rights of individuals to speak in public, about what they witnessed and know is true.

Trump can’t blame the government. He did this to himself.

I predict Trump will lose again in March 2024. And he will lose this presidential immunity case, now in the Appellate court. Candidate Trump is both incredibly dishonest and a hypocrite.

Stay tuned,

Dave 

PS: Almost forgot to include Trump’s attack on Marvin Ruffman, in 1990, who correctly predicted the downfall of Trump’s eighth wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. You can search for this blog. It is a pattern of insults and bullying that goes back decades. 

NY State Fraud Civil Case – The Drama Continues

by Dave

The trial continues, inside and outside the court house. Donald Trump was in court on November 17, even though he is not required. It’s because he is seriously worried about the financial harm to the Trump business. The loss of ownership rights in his New York State properties has been put on hold right now, pending the outcome of the trial. His legal team is very aware that any error made by the judge will be the basis for an appeal. The heat is on.

What drove Trump to return to court, was testimony from outside appraiser Doug Larson and Donna Kidder, Trump’s business accountant. This is a non-jury trial, so it is impossible to say that the manipulated valuations are all too complicated or no one quite remembers. The Trump team would like the judge to believe that exaggerated estimates were given to them by outside appraisers. Larson emphatically state on the stand that just the opposite happened, the inflated estimates came from the Trump organization, namely the Trump controller, Jeffery McConney.

On November 16, It has been reported that Allen Weisselberg’s testimony was cut short, partially through the prosecution’s questioning, possibly because his testimony was contradicting emails not yet part of the record. This raised the speculation of perjury, which is criminal and could send Weisselberg back to prison. Prosecutors now can recall Weisselberg, later in the trial. I think this will help the prosecution.

To me, this is a classic case of cheating. On paper, the fraud started from outside auditors, but this was all a cover-up. Inside the Trump organization, Trump’s accountant Donna Kidder testified that the cheating began with CFO Allen Weisselberg instructing her to assume full occupancy in his Park Avenue and Wall Street holdings.

Link Forbes: Trump’s Longtime CFO Lied, Under Oath, About Trump Tower Penthouse

Note that Forbes requires a subscription after accessing the fourth article. You might try clearing cookies to get around this.

MSNBC Link: Weisselberg’s testimony abruptly ended last week, raising questions

AP News Link: Trump returns to his civil fraud trial, hears an employee and an appraiser testify against him

I’ve seen this kind of intimidation before. Usually, companies have internal safeguards to stop the most egregious forms of fraud. Trump public statements confirm he wanted the highest possible valuations he could get because it would make it easier to get bank and insurers approval.

This is were the idea that no harm was done, really falls apart. It is something everyone who has financed anything knows that the more assets and income one can show, the more likely the banks are offering low interest loans. One restraint is that the banks and insurers can do their own assessments. The second back stop to over valuations are the rules and laws of the state governing fraud.

This is not a federal case, but I am certain the IRS will investigate violations of tax laws. For lending purposes, assets which are overvalued are beneficial, but not for capital gains on federal IRS tax rules.

Michael Cohen’s turn to give damning testimony has been postposed due to illness. I am certain that Cohen’s testimony will further the dots, which go from Trump to Weisselberg to their Controller and accountants to the fraud.

Now, outside the courtroom, Trump re-iterates his disdain for the AG Letitia James and the court system, as follows:

We built a great company — a lot of cash, it’s got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets anywhere in the world,” Trump said outside the courtroom. He dismissed the case as “a disgrace,” the legal system as “corrupt” and the Democratic attorney general as a “radical lunatic.”

He is under a partial gag order, which limits his attacks, but I guess calling the AG a lunatic is ok. Attacking court staff and families is off limits and thank God for this ruling.

The AG James also responded to reporters:

“Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie,” she said after court. “He can call me names, he can engage in distractions,” she said, but “his entire empire was built on nothing but lies and on sinking sand.”

Boy, that sounds like a closing line. Court experts do not expect Trump to testify unless he totally ignores the advise of counsel.

Obviously, the news media is focused on the war in Israel and the Gaza strip, which can only be described as horrific and tragic. While the trial is not making headline news, the reporters from the Associated Press, Forbes, The Hill and many other media outlets continue to provide the essential details and post to the internet. Nobody should get information from Facebook or conservative social media commentary. Many legal experts feel the NY State case will continue beyond the proposed end date of December 22, 2023.

There are numerous side cases as well. One is the effort to keep Trump off the ballot in selected states, and my prediction is this will fail because it places far too much discretion in the hands of an elected official (Secretary of State). It did temporarily become a distraction. Steve Bannon trial for the Build the Wall fraud begins May 27 in the same courtroom and judge as the Hush Money case.

Reporters will soon be covering the trial of two defendants, Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell, in the GA, set to begin on October 23. This court case will be televised. It will give an early indication of whether DA Fani Willis can has enough “connective tissue” (I like this expression) to support the charge of an election interference conspiracy, based on the RICO act.

I assume court reporters will be pretty stretched in 2024 among the courthouses in Washington DC (January 6 federal case), Florida (Documents case), Manhattan (Hush Money, E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit) and the Atlanta, GA Jan 6 conspiracy case. No date set yet for the Georgia case.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s legal problems – Quick summary

by Dave

It’s 4+2, which stands for 4 criminal cases and 2 civil cases. They are well summarized in the link below:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-are-the-legal-cases-against-donald-trump.html

Two simple principles must be understood: (1) No one is above the law and (2) Trump’s legal problems are of his own making.

Billionaire Trump will use campaign donations to pay for his legal expense. This is the height of audacity. He will claim he is the victim and the Biden administration is trying to lock him up so he can’t run.

The four criminal cases will take place in Florida, Georgia, NY and Washington DC. Can you name them and give their status?

They are the Mar-a-Lago Documents case in Florida, Election Tampering case in Georgia, Stormy Daniels hush money in NY, and Jan 6 and 2020 election aftermath in Washington DC.

Now, the status as of July 25, 2023: Documents case – trial scheduled for May 20, 2024, Georgia Election Tampering – indictment announcement likely between now and September 1, 2023, Stormy Daniels case- trial scheduled for March 25, 2024, Jan 6 and election aftermath, indictments likely very soon.

Ok for extra credit, match the prosecutor (Smith, Bragg and Willis) to each case.

The two civil cases are summarized in the link above. October 24, 2023 Trump goes on trial for business fraud in NYC and then on January 15, 2024, a trial is scheduled for the second defamation case against E. Jean Carroll. He does not have to appear for either trial.

Criminal cases can result in jail time. So, will Donald Trump do time? If found guilty, his lawyers will be fighting in court to keep him from ever serving time. Convicts have the right to be incarcerated in a place that guarantees their well-being. A lot is up to the judge in the case. It will not be like the movies. No one will parade Donald Trump in front of the news media. He has secret service protection for life, by law. House arrest is an option. It is unprecedented to incarcerate an ex-president and a presidential candidate. There will be many appeals.

Finally, the documents case will be in Palm Beach County, not far from where I live. Trials in the US are open to the public. How can I attend? Perhaps I have to camp outside in line. I think the accused (Donald Trump) must be present.

Sometimes, the accused have little chance to defend themselves in court, because they have to rely on public defenders. Billionaire Trump has access to the best legal minds in our country.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they appear to be going in the right direction.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Alina Habba problem

by Dave

On October 24, 2022, Alina Habba joined MAGA, Inc. Per Bloomberg News:

“One of former President Donald Trump’s top lawyers has taken on a role as senior adviser for his new political action committee, pressing his MAGA message even as she defends him in a series of high-stakes lawsuits.  Alina Habba, who represents Trump in the suit filed by New York’s attorney general over his asset valuations, has joined the MAGA Inc. team as it spends millions on ads to support Trump’s endorsed candidates in key midterm races.”

The above screenshot of Alina Habba is from NewsMax, where she was being interviewed by Sean Spicer. Sean Spicer has written several books since leaving the White House, all of which I assume are very favorable to Trump. She has an office close to Trump’s golf course and resort in Bedminister, NJ. Very convenient.

Link: Wikipedia, Alina Habba

Attorney Habba filed a civil lawsuit for Donald Trump and on January 19, 2023, Judge Middlebrooks ordered sanctions against Trump and Habba totaling $938,000. In my last posting, I summarized many of the Judge’s comments. They were not kind to Ms. Habba. Thus, Alina Habba got her 15 minutes of fame, appearing on Fox News, sending Twitter messages, etc. And for Donald Trump, it’s just another day at the office, or really running for President.

In the week that followed, two lawsuits against NY Attorney General Letitia James as filed by Alina Habba were withdrawn. Why? First, I assume that these lawsuits had zero chance of winning in court, because Trump would never allow a lawsuit that even had a one in a million chance of winning, to be withdrawn. It wasn’t every going to great news coverage, because it would remind people that AG James is suing Trump for a hefty 250 million dollars and her case is proceeding well.

Link: Trump drops appeal, ending legal fight against New York Attorney General Letitia James

Attorney Habba is worried about being disbarred, plain and simple. Sean Hannity isn’t about to invite her back to explain why she lost in court. Neither will Sean Spicer at NewsMax. When her conspiracy case got so obliterated by Judge Middlebrooks, there isn’t much to say unless you want to blame the entire legal system. They tend to be interested in facts over allegations. Trump can go on, and blame it all on the judge.

The judge added that Mr. Trump’s use of the courts had helped to undermine the public’s confidence in them. “A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm,”

The four lawyers which were initially sanctioned by Judge Middlebrooks are: Alina Habba, Michael T. Madaio, Peter Ticktin and Jamie Alan Sasson, were assessed $50,000 penalties, plus $16,000 to cover the legal fees paid by one of the defendants. I believe these sanctions are being appealed.

More on Habba’s law firm:

Link from Nov 2021: Trump turns to small N.J. law firm for latest lawsuits

One of the other lawyers sanctioned by Judge Middlebrooks is Peter Ticktin, whose law office is in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Tinkin is 76 years old, and was a classmate of Donald Trump at the New York Military Academy. See link:

Link from Daily Beast: Trump’s New Lawyer Has Been Fawning Over Him Since High School

Peter Ticktin even wrote a book documenting his love of Trump: What Makes Trump Tick: My Years with Donald Trump from New York Military Academy to the Present.

Finally, I can understand how those in the legal profession are tempted to use their power of persuasion to enter into politics. I mean they have years of experience in advocacy and oratory. The difference in court, you have opposing counsel, always there to check your facts And of course, a judge to examine both sides of an issue.

There are discipline ethic boards for attorneys, such as Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and perhaps Alina Habba, who went way too far, for their clients.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s insulting names for people and organizations

by Dave

Wikipedia compiled a list. See link:

List of nicknames used by Donald Trump

It is a long list, and contains many Republicans as well as Democrats. Frequently, they are related to being corrupt or dishonest. What is interesting is that none of the people called corrupt, have ever been charged with a crime.

Then, there’s the lazy or low energy names, and the most famous is Sleepy Joe, for Joe Biden. He’s got a long list of nicknames for Biden, including the “Corrupt Joe.”

The Trump organization has already been found guilty of corruption. Steve Bannon is free on bond at present, as his conviction is being appealed. Roger Stone received a full pardon from Trump on December 23, 2020, but I think he’ll be back in court in connection with the January 6 violence.

The list is long, and way down at the bottom, are his insults to new organizations, which he attacked as corrupt, and offering the public “fake news.” No nicknames for the the truly corrupt and ultra right wing organization, Infowars, headed by Alex Jones. Awards to victims from the defamation cases total more than 1.4 billion dollars and Jones has filed for bankruptcy. Similarly, no insulting names for Fox News which is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems, for their commentators who constantly attacked the reliability of their equipment without evidence. This was real fake news.

I congratulate Wikipedia and the great service they do. Just before posting this blog, I wanted to discuss the recent success with nuclear fusion, and of course, my first reference was Wikipedia.

So, let me close with a nickname of my own: “Amazing Wikipedia.” It is their fund raising time, and you can make a donation from their website.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Social Media Immunity – Section 230

by Dave

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider” Section 230.

I began my last blog with a quote from Donald Trump on how the 1996 Communications Decency Act gave rights to social media companies, which are not enjoyed by others in the electronic communications business, such as television and radio. It was a recognition of the immense difficulty these companies have in monitoring content. I added the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as I felt it provided a simple explanation of why the social media platforms are protected by Section 230.

I wanted to make it clear that when Republicans go after Section 230 of this act, they are attacking the foundations of Donald Trump’s new foray into social media, by making his website vulnerable to legal action. There is an enormous list of websites, which depend on Section 230 protection, including Youtube, Vimeo, Amazon, Yelp, craigslist and WordPress. Yes, WordPress which hosts this website.

My prior post was not particularly kind to our former president. I want to make it clear that Facebook and Twitter are also a platform hosting a ton of political propaganda garbage. I don’t look for news/commentary on Facebook or any other social media site. I consider these sites to cluttered with personal attacks and often void of any real news.

If someone posts information on how to fix my bicycle or dishwasher, that’s great. I guess I too much of a news snob to look for news commentary on Facebook. Still, if they provide bad information a bicycle, there’s Section 230 immunity. Plus, it’s likely they did not provide this bad information intentionally.

A public forum is any place open to the general public where ideas can be freely exchanged. We have evolved from people making public speeches in the town square and newspapers to radio, television, cable and satellite networks, and now to worldwide internet social networks. Our First Amendment right to freedom of speech and press, came about before radio was invented. It is not an absolute right to expression. Disrobing in public can still get you arrested on indecent exposure charges.

How far does one go in protecting the free exchange of ideas or expression? Go too far, and you will likely get sued. Lou Dobbs comes to mind right away. He was a master at righteous indignation, with comments like “What are they thinking?” in referring to various policies on immigration, climate change, China policy (yes, he supported bombing China), etc. His show ended when Smartmatic sued him for defamation of their voting machines. Alex Jones is another case, as he was sued based on commentary on the Sandy Hook shootings. It happened nine years ago, and hopefully next year, he’ll have to pay up.

So, Lou Dobbs or Alex Jones won’t be posting on Facebook anytime soon. Telling people that Covid vaccines will alter your DNA so in two years you will die, is exactly what will get you censored and ultimately thrown off of Facebook. You will be thrown off because you violated the terms of posting to the site. Well, you are in violation in the opinion of the site’s owners. But will Trump’s site allow them to spread their garbage propaganda. I’m afraid of this. Asks National Enquirer, garbage sells. And Section 230 will protect them. In fact, both the First Amendment and Section 230 makes it very difficult to censor someone because there is always some place on social media which will allow outrageous ideas to be broadcasted.

The real power of social media is targeted marketing. Quite apparent, where you go on the internet, as indicated by the searches you do, can define you to others. So, in the old days, you could glance at a newspaper, and decide if the headline story interests you before buying the paper. Now, with social media, the news/commentary often piled high with falsehoods, will find you. So, if you want to believe that Biden is plotting to take away your guns, you will get “breaking news” sent to your cell phone in agreement with your beliefs.

There’s a certain appeal with the claim, that “only here can you find the real truth” of what is going on. It is particularly appealing to conspiracy prone folks, who believe big government and business are hiding the real news.

How to fix things? I don’t see this as a problem with the system (freedoms, privileges, the internet), or “them” (big government, big tech). The problem is with us and our own laziness to get the facts straight. I’m hoping the next generation understands that honesty counts.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Wikipedia: Lou Dobbs

Cornell Law, Section 230

Supreme Court on Section 230 (Thomas’ opinion mischaracterized. No justice joined with Thomas. I consider his comments “pure dictum.” Trump won the right to block followers on Twitter, limiting what could be discussed.)

The Odd Couple – Donald T. and Mark Z.

by Dave

“Also, get rid of Section 230 – Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!” he wrote in last week in office (while he was president). See link.

Trump’s message hasn’t changed. Big Tech are destroyers of free speech. Jack Dorsey (Twitter CEO) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) were convenient targets of Republicans.

Trump has always had a problem with the truth. The Washington Post identified 30,000 lies in the four years while he was president. Since he lost the election, and was thrown off of Facebook and Twitter, he’s been looking for ways to keep his millions of followers with him. He can hop from state to state, delivering his message at rallies, with the expectation that at least Fox and OAN networks will cover them. But that is expensive, and tiring.

What suddenly changed was Donald Trump found a way back into the social media business – big time. He needs protection from lawsuits. So does Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey (Twitter). Nothing like a common business interest for opponents to crawl into the same bed.

Legal immunity for content posted on social media platforms is provided under Section 230 (see links below). As president, Trump could threaten Twitter and Facebook, that he would strip these websites of the immunity from lawsuits based on content that others had posted. Now, Trump absolutely needs Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This was passed in 1996, by the Clinton administration when social media was really in its infancy and initially thought to be a blow against free speech.

To go big into social media, you need this legal protection. Donald Trump’s TRUTH Social website is going to spread malicious misinformation 24/7. And definitely the Trump organization could get sued for defamation and libel. But this stuff will be posted by others, so his organization will have Section 230 immunity. They will censor content which doesn’t fit the gospel according to Trump. It’s their platform, and they can chose the people allowed to post commentary.

Trump also will pay big bucks for big tech to deliver his message. Yes, to Google and Facebook, to selectively find likely followers. It’s targeted marketing and everyone does it. And his message will continue to be anti-government (as long as Biden is in charge), anti-big tech and anti-Section 230 immunity.

And lastly the cash vehicle, DWAC, a stock symbol for Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which last week was a sleepy $10/share stock to $175/shr then dropped to $94/shr, all in 3 days. A stock that’s up 900% is known as a 9-bagger. Yes, other stocks have increased 9 fold, but in the course of 3 days, that’s crazy.

The creed of investors, is to focus on the opportunity to make money, and as long as the company is likely to grow, nothing else really matters. Of course Trump’s site is appropriately named GARBAGE Social, The way to the capital markets used to be IPO’s or initial public offerings. But, Special Purpose Acquisition Corporations are now the super fast lane onto a public listing without any real income or governmental scrutiny. The new corporation is called Trump Media and Technology Group.

There is a large part of our population which have steadfastly clings to the latest conspiracy theories on the “radical left movement” in cahoots with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, which by the way, are no longer among us. There’s the big lie, that Trump actually won the election, and all the little lies, some really pretty crazy, i.e. “Ivanka Trump has done a fantastic job for women and also for jobs. Thirteen million additional jobs.” Sept 27, 2019. Somehow, the claim and reality have taken two divergent paths.

I don’t get my news from Facebook or Twitter. Donald Trump’s foray into social media on the new large scale, will give him his own platform for misinformation. While Mark Zuckerberg is trying to keep misleading information off his platform, this is exactly what Trump wants on his. Garbage propaganda is a pretty polite way of putting it. See links.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Some of these links from the news media may not be active in a few months.

Washington Post: Trump’s Lies While President. .

Truth Social Website

Anthony Scaramucci says the Trump media SPAC is ‘garbage propaganda,’ but if it does well enough it could keep the former president out of politics

Scaramucci was Trump’s communication director for 11 days.

Some of these links from the news media may not be active in a few months.

Trump media SPAC stock doubles, bringing 2-day gains to 800% in retail-trading frenzy

Section 230 Explained

Truth Social: Trump’s new social network will benefit from the very law he tried to destroy

Biden is best for Global and National Problems – Part 4

by Dave

Character

Honesty and working for the best interests of our country instead of a political party are two essential characteristics of a good president. It was George W. Bush who suggested a third characteristic – Humility.

What I find incredible, is that after the truth is revealed, Trump does not back down. Whether it is Mexico is going to pay for the wall or some absurd conspiracy theory, he doesn’t let go of it. It’s like it becomes part of his repertoire. The best explanation comes from Jared Kushner, “Controversy elevates the message” and facts don’t really matter.

I will just add a few quotes from those closest to the President in recent years. I really like this wonderful axiom:

Facts are threatening to those invested in fraud. DaShanne Stokes.

“I think we need to look harder at who we elect and I think we should start, all of us, regardless of what our views are of politics, I think we should look at people running for office and put them through a filter, what is their character like, what are their ethics and if elected, are they willing to represent all of their constituents and not just their base.” General John Kelly, former Chief of Staff.

A former White House chief of staff, retired Marine general John Kelly, told friends that Donald Trump’s “dishonesty” is “astounding” and “pathetic”, a report has said. “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me,” the retired Marine general told friends, according to a report by CNN. “The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,” he allegedly said. As reported in CNN. See link at the bottom.

When Trump called Mexicans “rapists” in the speech announcing his candidacy on June 16, 2015, Priebus called him and said, “You can’t talk like that. We’ve been working really hard to win over Hispanics.”
― Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House

From his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, “As I’ve been saying since the beginning, Trump was a mobster, plain and simple.”

“His style is chaos itself. And when you have chaos at the top of the federal government, that creates chaos throughout every other level of government. That means, we can not perform our security functions well. Elizabeth Neumann, Former Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention.

The lies and deceptions are accelerating, as people are now going to the polls in many of the swing states. According to CNN:

For fact checkers, the period from Friday through Sunday was one of the most challenging of Trump’s entire presidency: he made at least 66 separate false or misleading claims over that three-day span. In other words, it was 66 false or misleading claims without even counting all the times he repeated some of those same 66 claims over the course of the three days.

Trump did have a packed schedule. On Friday, he made a speech to Florida seniors and held rallies in Florida and Georgia; on Saturday, he held rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan; on Sunday, he held a rally in Nevada.

This one is from his recent rally in Florida:

Trump boasted in Florida: “Since the China virus, we have created — a record in the history of our country — 11.4 million jobs over just a short period of months.” Yes – true, but it neglects the loss of 22 million jobs over the prior two months. Since Trump took office, there has been a net loss of jobs.

Biden is the clear winner in the area of honesty, working for the American people and at the same time, being humble.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Fact Checking Trump’s massively dishonest weekend

Bolton’s book – Part 2

by Dave

Seems everybody knows what’s in this book, entitled “In the room where it happened” that I could just as well read the excerpts.  Fox New quotes Chris Hayes (MSNBC commentator) for criticizing John Bolton, but they carefully cherry pick Chris Hayes’ comments.   Of course, all this discussion is occurring when not a single copy has been distributed to the public.   What seems to really upset Chris Hayes, is a statement within the book, which blames the Democrats for failing to impeach Donald Trump, with a narrow focus on just Ukraine.   Bolton had his chance to set the record straight four months ago in front of Congress and he didn’t.   But, I think he and just about everyone else knew that once in the Senate, impeachment would fall short of the two-thirds majority as required to send Trump packing.   So, he chose the book rather than the grilling in front of Congress.  If he had chosen to  testified,  the Republicans would have attacked Bolton, despite his life long allegiance to the Republican party.

To correct the record, see below for all the comments made by Chris Hayes on MSNBC:

https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/bolton-blames-democrats-for-failed-impeachment-despite-refusing-to-testify-85295173778

Stay tuned,

Dave

Bolton’s Book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir”

by Dave

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has written his third book, entitled, “The Room Where It Happened” which according to  Amazon.com will be published in hard copy and on Kindle on March 17, 2020.   Amazon is accepting pre-publication orders.  I bought a copy from Amazon.     It isn’t my normal reading.  I disagree with his basic philosophy of using the threat of  military power in every way possible to promote US interests.   In one editorial in the New York Times,  he was aptly described as the least diplomatic diplomat.   I have posted his biography from Wikipedia under links.

Thanks to the impeachment hearings, John Bolton has now gotten heaps of criticism from the party he has always supported – the Republicans.   It has guaranteed that his hawkish views will be heard – either in his book or on social media. He appeared very often on Fox News during the Obama era.   It seemed he was critical of almost every initiative undertook by Obama with respect to international policy and cooperation.   At every turn, he would fall back to the idea that America would be better off going it alone.

But, I bought the book, because I am certain he will corroborate the testimony of others in the impeachment trial.  I’m sure Bolton feels a sense of betrayal from Trump, who could not separate his role as president, setting incredibly important policy decisions  from that of a candidate for re-election.

The current controversy is whether the manuscript can be published without changes.    A restraining order, preventing Simon and Schuster from publishing the book is possible, but likely to be ineffective, as I am certain  excepts will appear in the press.   A restraining order will only make the book more popular.

The Supreme Court case, “The New York Times v.  United States” was decided 38 years ago (I remember it, wow am I that old!) in favor of the New York Times publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a leaked government document reviewing the history of the Vietnam War, as prepared by the Department of Defense.   Three conservative judges (Burger, Harlan and Blackmun) dissented.  See links.

The lead story in today’s New York Times is: “Attacking Bolton, Republicans Push to Swiftly Acquit. Confident they can block witnesses.   The White House and Senate Republicans worked aggressively on Wednesday to discount damaging revelations from John R, Bolton and line up the votes to block new witnesses from testifying in President Trump’s impeachment trial, in a push to bring the proceeding to a swift close.”  A vote on witnesses may occur tomorrow, Friday January 31.  Without witnesses, the trial could end next week, before the State of the Union address.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Amazon, The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, accepting pre-publication orders, available March 17, 2020

Wikipedia:  John Bolton

Wikipedia:  New York Times v.  United States (1971)

(yes- I know the actual case name is a bit longer and includes the case against the Washington Post.   The case was part of the C-Span series on Landmark Supreme Court cases. See

C-Span Landmark Supreme Court Decisions:  New York Times v United States

At issue was whether our First Amendment rights of a free speech could be limited by the government’s claim of harming to national security, because it relied on confidential information.  I believe after publication, it became clear that Pentagon Papers were an excellent historical account of events leading to our involvement in the Vietnam war.